Sean Wilentz, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Thomas Jefferson: How a slaveholder and ideologue was also a great democrat., The New Republic, March 10, 1997, 32-42.
Dreams of Religious Liberty and A City Upon a Hill
The assignment covers two days of readings.
Day 1:
The Reilgious Literacy Quiz
Robert Bellah
"Jefferson's Bible" from the LA Times
Day 2:
There are 5 required items here:
1. One from Stephen Prothero
2. One from Susan Jacoby
3. One from the Secular Coalition
4. A summary of a survey
5. The review of a book by Garry Wills
Day 1:
a) Go to http://www.stephenprothero.com/ - Scroll down three-quarters of the way and click on “Test Your Religious IQ”
Day 2: Read one about Stephen Prothero’s book on Religious Literacy and the other about Susan Jacoby and freethinkers. Each offers you the chance to explore the topic in more depth. a) Required 1: Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy, published a compelling book arguing for the centrality of faith in our nation’s history and the need to intellectually understand the impact of, in particular, Christianity, but also other faiths in our nation’s and world history.
([He] argues that Americans, though 'spiritual,' are woefully ignorant about religion. By Lisa Miller) Optional reading on Prothero’s views, if they intrigue you Read the longer, cover story from Time: “The Case for Teaching the Bible,” 3-22-07 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601845,00.html
c). Required # 3- Read the brief Position Statement on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Tolerance from the Secular Coalition for America at - (this link has been having trouble. See its contents on page 3 of the next word document)
Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963
I provide a few ways to read about and listen to this famous speech. I do so in case my suggested one does not work. If you search on your own, be careful using the internet. The speech lasts about 17 minutes, but many sites only give a portion of it.
The best place to go to is the Stanford site below, where King’s papers are housed.
Read:
a) Context of Speech - http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_i_have_a_dream_28_august_1963/
Unit I: Thinking on History and America
On Blink - and "Thin-Slicing"
Read
“'Blink': Hunch Power” by David Brooks, January 16, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/books/review/16COVERBR.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=blink%20gladwell&st=cseOptional:
“'Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking' by Malcolm Gladwell - Experiences, environment influence first impressions, snap decisions” - Sunday, January 23, 2005, By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05023/446202-148.stm
“The Gladwell Effect” by Rachel Danadio – NYT February 5, 2006 - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/books/review/05donadio.html?scp=5&sq=blink%20gladwell&st=cse
How We See and Study History
George Will on Time Magazine's Person of the Year
Sean Wilentz, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Thomas Jefferson: How a slaveholder and ideologue was also a great democrat., The New Republic, March 10, 1997, 32-42.
I and We - Being your brother's keeper and/or/versus your right to be left alone
The American Dream
Wikipedia (nice short entry) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream
From Parade Magazine - http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_04-23-2006/Middle_Class_feature
From the NYTimes, August 23, 2008
Dreams of Religious Liberty and A City Upon a Hill
The assignment covers two days of readings.Day 1:
The Reilgious Literacy Quiz
Robert Bellah
"Jefferson's Bible" from the LA Times
Day 2:
There are 5 required items here:
1. One from Stephen Prothero
2. One from Susan Jacoby
3. One from the Secular Coalition
4. A summary of a survey
5. The review of a book by Garry Wills
Day 1:
a) Go to
http://www.stephenprothero.com/ - Scroll down three-quarters of the way and click on “Test Your Religious IQ”
The quiz is also at: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,660205799,00.html
b) Robert Bellah -
c)
“A Founding Father's view of God : Jefferson compiled a Bible without miracles that ended with Jesus' burial instead of resurrection.” - Beliefs, July 05, 2008|Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer - Jefferson's Bible or at: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/05/local/me-beliefs5
Day 2: Read one about Stephen Prothero’s book on Religious Literacy and the other about Susan Jacoby and freethinkers. Each offers you the chance to explore the topic in more depth.
a) Required 1: Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy, published a compelling book arguing for the centrality of faith in our nation’s history and the need to intellectually understand the impact of, in particular, Christianity, but also other faiths in our nation’s and world history.
Read “The Gospel of Prothero” at http://www.newsweek.com/id/36431
([He] argues that Americans, though 'spiritual,' are woefully ignorant about religion. By Lisa Miller)Optional reading on Prothero’s views, if they intrigue you
Read the longer, cover story from Time: “The Case for Teaching the Bible,” 3-22-07
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601845,00.html
Or, Prothero (Newsweek July 2007) - “True or False: The Major Religions Are Essentially Alike” http://www.newsweek.com/id/33534
b) Required 2: -
Susan Jacoby describes her views of freethinking in America, and then offers a quick overview of the conflict between freethinkers and believers between the late 1800s and today.
Required “Freethought Revival” about Jacoby’s book on the site “Beliefnet” http:://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14451_1.html
Optional - If you desire, this article focuses on what she defines as the “golden age” of free thinking
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14442.html
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Secular-Philosophies/The-Golden-Age-Of-Freethought.aspx?p=1
c). Required # 3- Read the brief Position Statement on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Tolerance from the Secular Coalition for America at - (this link has been having trouble. See its contents on page 3 of the next word document)
http://www.secular.org/index.html
d) Required # 4 - Read this Word Document summarizing the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey.
e) Required 5 - .PATRICK ALLITT, NY Times, December 9, 2007, "A City Upon a Hill"
City Upon a Hill - Garry Wills
or
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/books/review/Allitt-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=garry%20wills%20+%20head%20and%20heart&st=cse
Material Comfort, Independence and Home Ownership
“For Sale: The American Dream”, Joshua Ruff, American History December 2007
http://ginsberg.umich.edu/downloads/Ruff-For+Sale-The+American+Dream.pdf
From Vanity Fair, “Rethinking the American Dream” - http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904Updatd Version of PowerPoint as PDF file -
Optional items for deeper consideration
From Vanity Fair, “Rethinking the American Dream” - [[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904]]
The Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/about/
Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963
I provide a few ways to read about and listen to this famous speech. I do so in case my suggested one does not work. If you search on your own, be careful using the internet. The speech lasts about 17 minutes, but many sites only give a portion of it.
The best place to go to is the Stanford site below, where King’s papers are housed.
Read:
a) Context of Speech -
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_i_have_a_dream_28_august_1963/
b) The written text (Read along as you listen at the next link) - http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
c) Audio version of the speech from Stanford
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_august_28_1963_i_have_a_dream/
or listen here: http://www.archive.org/details/MLKDream